A few months back I made Slap.
A carbon fiber iPhone mount for cars. Only two were made, one is owned me.
It was a last ditch effort to save my company, Momentis.Lab. However, putting a new product on the market on a shoe string budget proved challenging to say the least!
It is still a product I use daily and love (and my kids are always mesmerized by the galactic effect and depth of the forged carbon), so at least there is that!
It taught me two things:
-When you think you should close a business, you are already 6 months too late 😅
-A business is not a hobby, and if treated as such, your hobby will become your enemy, professionally and personally.
I've spent years making custom carbon fiber parts for exceptional clients. However, without my own product line, it was excruciating to try to beat the big companies in speed, quality and price. My one advantage was that I am a good designer and I could manufacture what I designed. Not all designers have good manufacturability in mind. I would CNC machine, 3D print, make plugs and molds etc. And my past experiences as a CNC operator, a blacksmith and automotive prototyper gave me enough skills to differentiate myself.
So I closed my business. Transferred all the financial burdens on me and I am now in the reconstructing phase. Even more reconstructing to do on my personal side of life, but I won't go into that.
This reconstructing phase includes being a salaried industrial designer in a small company, which I love and is great. The peace of mind of a regular pay, ending work at a certain time and not have this 24h grind mentality feels foreign too.
This reconstructing phase also includes doing a lot of freelancing (because, you know... money), and led me to launch arCADe.
ArCADe is (to my knowledge) the first industrial design-as-a-service platform (others are very successful doing it for web and graphic designs). For a flat monthly fee, you get my other 16h of the day 🤪 , with new designs delivered every 3-5 days (a project can include a simple part, like a cup, or it can be a bicycle, where each components will count as a part. No I will not design a full bicycle every 4 days!).
It allows small businesses to avoid in-house hiring when they can't afford one, or bigger companies to have a pressure valve to offload redundant work.
You can have a look over here:
arcadedesign.co/
If you like what you see, don't hesitate to share, repost or just call me!
Remember, anything helps. A simple click can achieve a lot.
Peace and love!
Dylan